Keywords: Sichuan Earthquake, disaster relief, media censorship, Tibet, welfare, tax reform, labor, oil, Olympic, KMT

1. POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

• Sichuan Earthquake and various implications

1.11 Causes of Suffering (080609NYR)

a) A natural disaster beyond theology 道家天演論：天地無情以萬物為鄒狗

1. b) A punishment for sinful behaviour 陰陽家漢儒天讉論：治亂的昭示/君權的約束
2. c) A test of virtue or ultimately redemptive 儒家多難興邦：天將降大任於欺人也

Position a) is not that controversy and perhaps taken for granted, especially when the media creating features; Position b), raised by Li Yi (李怡, 080513AD) after the earthquake had received severe attacks, particularly in mainland; Position c) offered by Premier Wen Jiabao, (溫家寶, 080602WWP) was well-received.

1.12 The Value of a Political System

Some analyses suggest that if an authoritarian regime (Chinese government on Sichuan Earthquake) is even more transparent, responsive and efficient than a democratic regime (the Bush Administration on Hurricane Katrina in 2005) in offering relief works, should the former still be regarded as inferior? Focusing on the utilitarian value and incremental capacity of a political system and perhaps intellectually attached to the thesis proposed by Amartya Sen.

1.13 Reconstruction plan, adjustment of economic policy and NGOs involvement

According to the government, on 16 June, 69163 people died and over 5 millions became victims of the earthquake. A detailed reconstruction proposal will be ready in 3 months including a centrally organized with 21 provinces participated cooperative relief plan. Regulation regarding relief and reconstruction 《汶川地震災後恢複重建條例》was published on 8 June 2008.

Popular concerns have mainly vested on 3 issues: 1) the adjustment of economic and fiscal policy, also see 2.3 (080528CBH)? 2) What should be roles and involvements of the non-government sectors in relief and reconstruction (080525SMD)? 3) Who should be made responsible and accountable, also see 1.3? (080606SW)

1.14 Aggregated and Prolonged Critics on a Wrong Party Suspect

Fan Xiaohua (范小华) is suspected of misappropriation of a disaster relief tent and aggravated personal assault in Mianyang city, but the Chinese human flesh search engines went after Communist youth league secretary Fan Xiaohua (范晓华) in Mianzhu city instead. The attacks on the official continued although the bogglers and citizens had realized that they went on a wrong suspect. (080602SMD)

1.15 Critical Angle: An unintended consequence

Celebrated Author Yu　Ciouyu (余秋雨) published an article demanding the parents of the child victims not to complain, as it would create opportunity for the others to criticize the government.  They should instead unite behind the party. The message was severely attacked by many public intellectuals and netizens as ‘heartless’ and ‘mouth-piece of the authority’. Although the media, perhaps instructed, was quite united to honor his perspective, it has somehow created an unintended consequence of turning the discourse to be more critical to review the causes of the incident, the necessity of monitoring relief works, and the integrity of public intellectuals.

• Censorship and Writers and Journalists’ Efforts

1.21 Tibetan Issue:  After publishing a series of articles concerning meaning of independent and impartial reports and Chinese bogglers’ sentimental reactions to western media’s reports on Tibet, the SMD was actually named by many as China’s CCN, in which CNN stands for the tools of imperialism. (080403SMD)

1.22 The May issue of FEER, tilted ‘Beijing Embraces Fascism’ and ‘Tibet’s Legal Rights to self-determination’, etc. was banned in China.  (June FEER)

1.23 Sichuan Earthquake: Reporters from ND, SMD, and SW were ordered to go back to Guangdong by the provincial party secretary when a series of critical reports on the relief distribution and construction problems had ‘hurt the Chinese feelings’, created discomfort from Beijing and harmed the relief efforts and morale. (080606CMP) Analyses on earthquake prediction, building quality and relief work disputes were often banned or in case of bogglers, their accounts became inaccessible or locked. (NESW site)

1.24 The website of CCTV reported the annual momentum of June Fourth Incident in the name of 48,000 people saluted the death of Sichuan Earthquake. The report style clearly showed that it acknowledged the context of the June Fourth. The story was deleted after Hong Kong media reported the case. (080609AD)

• Official Accountability

Based on the irresponsiveness and inefficiency of the related authorities after the heavy show in January and in the Shandong Train Crash, there are suggestions to push forward direct and administrative accountability to include political and ethnical accountability. A regulative and reviewable framework should be made, they said.  (080501SW)

• Open Public Space for deliberation, demonstration and complaints

According to Ming Pao (明報), Beijing government is planning to designate an area in the World Garden (世界公園) for the complainers (上訪者) to aggregate. They can deliberate, demonstrate and make complains there, similar to the Hyde Park format.

Although some comments treat it as an attempt to liberate the public sphere, other sources suggest that it was only an administrative measure to control the sources of conflict. They pointed out that the Garden was indeed very far away from the Olympic village and arena.  (080609MP)

• Intellectual Debate: Construction of Slum/ Welfare Property

Professor Qui Hui (秦暉) suggested that China is following the path of Georges-Eugene Haussmann in modernizing and transforming cities. He disagreed on the logic. Instead, he suggests building slums for the poor in times of intense land-use disputes and wealth polarization. It allows the countryside population and poor to be recognized and to be able to be incorporated into city life. After the publishing of this lecture article in the Southern Metropolitan Daily (080413SMD), it has generated intense debates across the public sphere.

The Pros arguments include examples from South Africa, India, France and UK which provide procedure fairness in land-use disputes, enable the possibility of assimilation of the poor and social harmony, maintain community values; the concerns of equal rights of men, social welfare of individual citizens, etc. It is not only a housing measure but also the politics of recognition. (080415CEN_Pros; 080415MLD; 080421SMD; 080422OMP; 080422SMD)

The Cons side argues that it would only intensify the conflicts between the have and have-not, and between city dwellers and countrymen; it would become an institutional and metaphoric inequality base on the principle of equality; the government should not be the medium to pick up the burden, instead it should be allocate in accord with marketing principle; foreign experiences suggest that slum is the source of crime and sin; it is a problem that China should escape from not attach to. (080415CEN_Cons; 0805417BN_2; 080418OMP ; 080421CEN; 080505SMD_2)

Qui published a series of articles to forward his claims. (080502SMD; 080608SMD; 080615BND) Media are generally positive to Qui concerns if not proposals. (080412IT) Government official said that they have not intension to construct slum and the current measure is enough to manage the housing problem. (0805417BN_2)

2. POLITICAL ECONOMY

• Taxation Reform about to Confirm

The current reform re-adjusts the central-local share of taxes since the 1994 taxation reform and aims at increasing the redistributing capacity of the central government from wealthy provinces to the under-developed. Besides, it might diversify the unbalanced focus of economic developments to social, environmental and ecological issues when the sources of income no longer simply attached to local earning ability.

All incomes taxes will be submitted to the central government; the ratio of value-added tax, currently accounts for over 40% of the state’s revenue, will likely to be adjusted in favour of the local authorities. It will also specify the procedures and rules of collecting, redistributing and reviewing taxes. (080602CNW)

The latter change is however, a new development and to a certain extent, countering the original intends of the reform, which pint-points to the complicated central-local relationships.

• Shortage of Agricultural Products?

Although there have been worries that the shortage of agricultural supply in world market would transfer to China, many Chinese experts disagreed. They claimed that the storage of agricultural products is rather stable recently; the figure given by Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) is 2/5 of the annual production—a pretty safe level according international standard. They thought that the government should not postpone the transfer of agricultural land-use base on these worries. (080426SMD)

On the contrary, the June issue of FEER suggested that the main cause of inflation is the rising demand for agricultural products. China’s demand is taken as the source of the food crisis. Chinese experts instead blamed the uses of agricultural products for fuel production, consumer product speculations, floods and droughts and rising oil prices as the main causes in which China is not responsible.

2.3  Adjustments of Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy

The severe earthquake in Sichuan raised the concerns to review the contracting fiscal and monetary policy. Lu lei (陸磊) insisted that contracting policies are no longer applicable given the scale of relief and reconstruction works. Fang gang (樊綱) disagreed. Many experts suggest that the GDP shares of the affected zones are relatively small in provincial and national scale. They are not important chain in agricultural supply. Their effects should not be over-estimated.

Many economists agreed that decrease in GDP and increases in inflation are the most critical problems at the moment. The reconstruction works would inevitably generate pressure on capital flow in some areas, it would also increase fixed investment and inflation simultaneously, a contracting monetary policy is still most plausible and derisible as the moment. (080528CBH)

2.4  Corporate Responsibility and Forced Donation

‘…the sorrow and pity of the common Chinese citizens for their compatriot victims have become one of the strongest pressure forces in the world. Many corporations which were slow to donate, or donated too little were pilloried heavily by the Chinese netizens.  … the majority of Chinese citizens still hold very vague notions about property right … they do not respect the business rules of the games … this is a clash of Chinese and western values.  Although Multinational Corporations … have rich experiences and knowledge about the Chinese market and the consumption patterns of the Chinese people, they are much less knowledgeable about traditional Chinese culture. ‘(Translation from NESW, originated from Southern Weekly)

Famous indigenous victims/sinners reflected in the case of donations gate include Wang Shi of the Wangke group and Ma Yun of Alibaba, and various foreign enterprises like KFC, Samsung, Coca-Cola, LV, Nokia, Motorola, etc. (080529SW) They all surrendered or adapted to the logic or preference of the locality.

2.5  Right to Negotiation for Pay Rise in Shanghai

New rules have been introduced to allow low-paid workers to discuss wage increases with their employers in Shanghai. The regulations will apply to workers at 75 percent of all SOEs and 60 percent of those in other companies that have a labor union.

A survey of 250 enterprises found more than half of the workers had not received a raise in the previous three years. Analysts however, suggested that it was good to have discussion but doubt that it would lead to pay rises, because labour unions are often subordinated to the employer under the current structures.  (080401CDHKE)

3. FOREIGN RELATIONS

3.1 Olympics Torch and its aftermaths

3.11 Foreign Reactions to the Transfer

3.12 Tibetan Issue and its international and national depositions

3.13 Translation of Comments and Chinese Nationalist impulses

To what extend did China fulfill its original intends on Olympics? Is there any difference in the disappointment/achievement globally and domestically?  Another indicator on the growth of patriotism and nationalism?

3.2 Cooperation upon Oil

An agreement was made by Tokyo and Beijing on joint exploration and development of disputed gas fields in the East China Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said it would make “a sea of peace and friendship”, while in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said a “principled consensus” had been reached.

Protesters addressed it as a betrayal of national interest; defenders said it was not a sovereign issue but an economic one. China urgently needs an indigenous and secured resources base for its national development. (080619SCMP) The International Crisis Group has written a report on the issue, titled ‘China thirsts for oil’.

4. TAIWAN

 4.1 The Return of Kuomintang: A peaceful transfer of power between parties which fulfilled one of the crucial criteria in the transition to a consolidated democracy. Analyzing the inauguration speech, Lian　Yijheng (練乙錚) provided an illuminative overview of the governance logic, position towards Mainland, democratic deposition and ethnical/national orientation of the Ma administration. (080521_22HKEJ)

4.2 President Ma’s is offering olive branch to Mainland and it is well-received. For instance, direct fight is about to begin and the semi-governmental contact has reassumed.  (080521SCMP; 080619SCMP)

5. HONG KONG

• Bird Flu: Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have taken immediate measures, but the sources of these outbreaks are still undetermined and dispute with the suppler and retailer continues.
• Debates on the appointment of deputy secretary and political assistant.

6. 6. Remarks: Reflection of certain simplified themes in Chinese Politics?

1. The central government is responsive, efficient and empathetic; the local authorities are irresponsible, corrupted and greedy.
2. The ‘westerners’ do not want to see the emergence of China; China will be a threat to international security.
3. The development of nationalism and Internet mob.